Non-Fiction

Small Green Roofs

2015, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

Last month I decided I wanted a green roof on my chicken coop, the chicken coop I don’t have right now. I spent some time surfing pinterest for green roof chicken coops for inspiration. And just about the time I’d moved on from actively thinking about green roof chicken coops, Small Green Roofs appeared on the non-fiction new arrival shelf at the library. It was a sign. Clearly.

I read it. Skimmed it, really. It was not inspirational. It was a bit intimidating. Also, there’s a lot of math involved and a lot of science, too. I obviously knew you couldn’t just throw soil and plants on a roof and that was it. I understood you’d need to think about the weight on the roof and waterproofing. I also had a vague understanding that there are special soil thingies for green roofs. And this book talks about all of that — and a lot more, in a very overwhelming way.

I didn’t hate the book. I didn’t love the book. I’m glad I read the first two chapters and skimmed the rest. I still want a green roof chicken coop and I shall have one, someday!

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New York In a Dozen Dishes

2015, Books in Bed, cookbooks, Non-Fiction /

I totally impulse picked New York In a Dozen Dishes because, duh, #BlogHer15 is in New York. And also because I like New York pizza.

The book was interesting – a look at 12 dishes, their history and their history in New York. Bonus for including restaurant suggestions and a recipe for each one. There’s quite a bit I wouldn’t eat (brains, chowder, blech) but all of the chapters were interesting. And, I have a weird craving for a black & white cookie and I don’t really like black & white cookies.

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Four Non-Fictions

2015, Art, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

I couldn’t decide what to read last week so I reached for some non-fiction and then I just kept reaching for the non-fiction. I do that, quite a bit — in case you hadn’t noticed.

Materially Crafted wasn’t bad. Not great but not bad, either. I enjoyed it but I don’t think there’s anything in it I plan to do or make. It’s a nice reference if you don’t know much about some basic craft materials.

Oh Joy!: 100 Whimsical Projects to Create and Give Joy was fun. Lots of pretty pictures and color but not a lot of meaty projects.

The Alternative Jukebox was awesome. All the music, all the reasons why various bands and musicians were “alternative.” I got sucked down a Kurt Cobain hole and then I got sucked into listening to BBC 6 Music. What an awesome radio show. I love it.

Next, Art, Inc. No, I’m not planning on ditching my day job for a career in art. I grabbed the book from the shelf because I like Lisa Congdon and I thought it sounded interesting. It was interesting. I’m glad I read it.

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Free-Range Chicken Gardens aka Chicken Porn

2015, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

I found an awesome chicken coop and garden on Pinterest (I think that’s where I found it, maybe it was on Houzz?) and in the post the blogger talks about the book Free-Range Chicken Gardens so I had to check that out.

It’s amazing.

Elly and I totally agree, it’s chicken porn and chicken coop porn and chicken garden porn and we loved everything about it. Every single thing except our inability to have all of the chickens and all of the coops and all of the gardens.

I might have to buy this book next year.

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Eat the Year

2015, Books in Bed, cookbooks, Don't Read This, Non-Fiction /

Besides being a book written by a blogger, Eat the Year, is a book about weird food holidays. I’m a sucker for weird food holidays. So obviously, I had to pick up this book.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get past the first few pages. This was not the book I wanted it to be.

As someone who spent years talking to people about food holidays, on message boards, I was hoping for so much more than this. I told TW that this is the book that she and I should have written together… we could have nailed this topic, darn it.

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The Freedom Summer Murders

2015, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Daily Dose, Favorites, Non-Fiction, Young Adult /

This is hard.

I read Freedom Summer Murders because it was on the Cybils shortlist. It was a good book for kids who don’t know much about Freedom Summer. I was glad I read it.

I also got sucked down a hole of thinking about education in South Carolina which led me to spend a good bit of time on Wednesday evening looking at articles about the history of education in South Carolina.

All of that caused me to be somewhat amazed by the fact that I had any black teachers at all… growing up in Charleston, SC. It caused me to think more kindly upon a black teacher I had, who really — wasn’t a great teacher. It caused me to think even more kindly about a black high school English teacher that was a good teacher, though I liked nothing more than to complain about her when I was in her class.

It also caused me to spend more time thinking about how people should know more about Septima Clark. We rarely hear her mentioned when we read about the fight to end segregation. It also caused me to wonder if Crosstown in Charleston was ever officially re-named for her. (It was.)

And shortly after all of that wondering and thinking and stuff… I saw the news about the shooting at Emanuel AME and … how can we be here in this time, after all of these amazing people fought so hard. After people gave their lives. How can my home state and our country still be so steeped in racism that this can happen? How?

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I’m a Sucker for Books About/By Bloggers, So I Read Two More

2015, Books in Bed, cookbooks, Non-Fiction /

I am. A very big sucker for books written by/about bloggers. Doesn’t matter if I’ve never heard of those bloggers before, I’m into it.

Which is, how I managed to bring Design Bloggers at Home home from the library. I think I’d only even heard of a few of these folks and only one was someone I’d ever read regularly or even remember reading at all. I enjoyed it quite a bit. There was a nice mix of design styles and regions of the world. I was also amused by the little tips and favorite blogs/sites provided by each blogger. And, as an extra bonus, the section on how to start your own blog was nicely done. I’m glad I read this one.

I reserved Sheet Pan Suppers from the library because a) Sassymonkey was reading it b) my mom owns it and loves it c) it’s written by a blogger. A trifecta of influence over me, haha.

I haven’t tried any of the recipes from this one but it did something that very few cookbooks or blog posts about food can do — it made me want to cook something. Not kidding. That’s a pretty big deal because I almost never want to cook. I don’t even mostly care if anyone else cooks. I’ll have some nachos or a sandwich and call that dinner every night, no problem.

So yea. I’m going to cook a few things from this and if it goes well, maybe I’ll even buy this cookbook. (Totally amusing since we are in the beginning stages of Konmari’ing our books right now, lol. Maybe I’ll buy it on Kindle lol.)

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99 Poems For the 99 Percent

2015, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction, Poetry /

Way back in April, I picked up some books from the library that I thought Elly and her boyfriend might like since they were going to join us for #readathon (turns out they joined us for #readathon practice, but it was still awesome.) 99 Poems For the 99 Percent was one of the books I picked up.

I’ve been reading a couple of poems every day or two, usually when I sit down to have lunch or something. They’re not bad. Some of them are really very good. I’d have never picked this up if it hadn’t been for “N” joining us so yay for that!

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